swim throughs (a pain in the neck)

[robbcayman]

I'm not fond of them, either. I tell my DM's I will follow the bubble trail and meet them on the other side. One of the first things we learned in OW was to avoid overhead environments. I consider myself a conservative diver and I don't want to push the limits. I can just imagine someone panicking in tight quarters, kicking me in the face and/or damaging the reef.. it just doesn't appeal to me. I have done several swim thrus in Cozumel and you can see big crabs etc.. but I just don't like it.

[Brules]

None of them are long enough though except Devils Throat to really be considered overhead environment though.....most are way short.

But yeah, I avoid them at all costs. In the national park they need to ban them to protect the reefs.....

[cvchief]

In the national park they need to ban them to protect the reefs.....

Some divers kick the reef sides of swim throughs.
Some divers kick the reef not in swim throughs.

Shall we just ban diving? Or ban newbies?

Or I could say, by taking EVERYONE though the swim through, damage to the reef is contained to that one area, rather than having divers spread over the reef above the swim though possibly damaging it all over the place.

I was going to let you take me out to dinner, get me a website and boat for a new dive op, but you sound too strict....

[mediumone]

Our family of 4 loves them. We like the challenge. Separates the _______ from the ______ in terms of bouancy control.
Had one DM who also loved them. Took the 4 of us on a swim through tour in Palancar Bricks that none of us will forget. Good stuff.

[Superglyde]

Our family of 4 loves them. We like the challenge. Separates the _______ from the ______ in terms of bouancy control.
Had one DM who also loved them. Took the 4 of us on a swim through tour in Palancar Bricks that none of us will forget. Good stuff.

Wow, Palancar...is that the one that you start in low and it turns into a long tube going up, is dark for a split second until you do a 180 corkscrew turnback and up and then out over a wall and into the abyss?
If thats where it is (i'll have to look in my log book), that was one of the most incredible swim thrus I've ever done!

[fishi]

Amazed at what? All the dead, sand covered, broken, rubbed, fin kicked coral?

I hate them. I think doing swim throughs does NOTHING but destroy the coral. People kick/fin/touch/grab/pull/rub/hit/silt up the coral inside. No matter how careful or how good you are at it, chances are half of the rest of your group will undo every bit of being extremely careful you just performed going through lol! Every swim through I go through is dead and barren, all the small ones we pass that are too small to go through are full of critters and life.

I am anti swim through and I pass them up whenever I can, but in some spots you can't like when going from the deep side to sand down south......coral is just to tall to bounce dive over.

But yeah, I agree, I hate them and think they do nothing but denude the reefs......

Well you obviously never swam through one on your back! I don't think it can be done with split fins though.

[Mike]

I have a lot of neck pain, and swim throughs are a real hassle. This last trip I went around or over some of them, and found it much more enjoyable. I talked with another couple back on the boat, who avoided all of them, and mentioned that I've really haven't seen anything that neat anyway ( in swim throughs ). They said if they wanted to look at someones fins, they would stick there head in there locker. It seemed like a pretty accurate comparison. Any way, I think from now on I will be going around most of them.

Mike

Glad to know I'm not the only one. I'm not really a big fan of them when you're with 8 divers and a dive master. Nose to fin, people getting bottlenecked or someone trying to stop and get pictures, it just becomes like a stop and go rush hour traffic jam, not what I'm looking for on a nice relaxing dive while on vacation. When I've had the opportunity to do a few with just a couple of people, that's really a totally different experience and has been enjoyable. But the times I've been to Cozumel and been on a 9 person train going through swim thru after swim thru one after another, I start to avoid them and just swim over the top and poke around waiting for the group to get done.

[Jim Lapenta]

If they are not large enough for a buddy pair to go through together it could be argued that they are not a "swim thru" but a restriction. What pros are taking OW divers through restrictions? I'd like to stay away from those operations. Leading divers single file goes directly against any lessons in proper buddy procedure. The divers are not in position to help each other and the DM is certainly in no position to help. More than a body length is an over head and OW divers have no business in them.

[Brules]

I will have you all know - I do ALL my swimthroughs UPSIDE DOWN - feet spread in a "V" with my split fins on my hands!

[fishi]

If they are not large enough for a buddy pair to go through together it could be argued that they are not a "swim thru" but a restriction. What pros are taking OW divers through restrictions? I'd like to stay away from those operations. Leading divers single file goes directly against any lessons in proper buddy procedure. The divers are not in position to help each other and the DM is certainly in no position to help. More than a body length is an over head and OW divers have no business in them.

Nobody is squeezing divers into swim throughs. Divers could come out of most of them four abreast.